Tom Brennan: Parallels to 1969? Rudick, 13th Rd On Base Machine. Tyler/Tylor, in Height Order

Matt Rudick, 13th Round…Phenom?

Before we get to Rudick, is there a parallel between 2023 and 1969?

Glancing way back in time, the Mets never reached the 500 mark a single time in 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, and for the nearly the entire first quarter of 1969, Anno Domini.

In 1969, they finally reached 500 at 18–18....Kiner's Korner was all excited that day.

And then promptly proceeded to lose 5 straight games. That dropped them to 18–23. Same old Mets?

I had a feeling that the Mets would never reach 500 again.

Except for one small thing: they ripped off 11 straight wins  to reach 29–23, and of course went 82–39 the rest of the way after hitting the 18-23 low mark.

Then, they won the World Series that year.  Against Frank and Brooks and Boog and Jim and Dave and Mike and Pat and the rest of the O Birds.

This year, the Mets started out 20–23. They’ve now run off five straight one run wins through Sunday and are sitting at 25–23; will they continue to parallel 1969? 

I won’t complain if they do. Just go 80-39 from that low water 20-23 mark.

SMALL DUDE, BUT HE DANG SURE GETS ON BASE:

Jett Williams, the 5’6” first rounder, is highly touted. 

But this isn’t about Jett.

Less touted, and unknown by almost any Mets fans, except the ones paying attention like me and, I imagine, Billy Eppler, is another 5’6” dude, Matt Rudick, obscurely drafted in the 13th round of 2021.

Rudick was sputtering 2022 thru July worse than a car with water in its gas tank.

Then August 2022 arrived. High octane, turbo charged, and VROOM!

In his last 36 games in Brooklyn, in 2022 in August-September, he was on base 66 times.   That is a lot, would you agree?  If you don't immediately agree, that is 1.83 times per game.  Or, being on base twice 5 straight games, once in the 6th game, and then repeating that 10 more times. 

Was it a fluke? Surely it had to be.  Let's see - turn that calendar page to 2023.

Hmmm...apparently not a fluke.

You see, this year, he is the best hitter on the Bumbling Ponies team as he has a .451 on base percentage.

He’s been on base 65 times in 34 games thru Sunday. Which is 1.91 times per game.

So, in his last 70 regular season games, he’s been on base 131 times. 

Good golly, Miss Molly. 

Over 162 games at his 2023 pace, he’d get on base a whopping 303 times.

Also, 11 of 14 in steals, 17 doubles, a triple, and 8 HRs over that 70 game stretch. 

And just 42 Ks, with 48 walks, in those 70 games.

He may not be a Golden Jett, but the fellow 5’6” Rudick may be on a jet to LaGuardia sometime in 2023 if he keeps this up.

Yeah, but he’s error prone, right? That's gotta be it.  Well, I looked.

Maybe he is clumsy in pre-game fielding, or fumbles when he drops hints, but he’s made no (as in zero) errors in 145 pro games as an outfielder. 

May this zero will someday be a NY Mets hero.

But…13th round? 

No one, but no one, comes out of the 13th round, right?

Well, Daniel Murphy did. Yep, good ol’ 13th round Murph who, by the way, has heated up lately for the LI Ducks, and has climbed to .309. He’ll be back in the bigs, you watch. That is by the way his goal.

Another, even more lousy 13th rounder than Murph was Albert Pujols. 

Obscure dude. You might possibly know him:

The three time MVP who hit 703 HRs and had 3,384 hits and 2,218 RBIs.

Yeah, that Albert Pujols.  Remember him now?

Nah, no need to waste time following 13th rounders. 

They never pan out. 

Until, of course, they do.

LASTLY:

Tyler Stuart threw 6 shutout innings for Brooklyn, walked just one, fanned 8, on Sunday. The 6’9” Stuart, just 15 inches taller than Matt Rudick, is at 32 innings, 1.13 ERA, and 43 Ks. 

He was “only” a 6th rounder in 2022, apparently due to control concerns. One walk in 6 innings tells me the Mets found a gem in that 6th round.

And yes, Tylor, Tyler is taller.

Speaking of that relative shorty, Tylor Megill (who is unrelated to Tyler Stuart, just the height is relative) started out last year at 4-1 before he got hurt. This year, he’s started out 5-2. 

Breaking out my calculator, that’s 9-3. I double-checked those calcs. 9-3.

Me? I LOVE 9-3 guys. You might prefer 3-9 guys. Not me.  I love Tylor.  Someday, maybe in 2025, I may love Tyler too, as he stares down Lilliputians in the batters' box in Queens.  While Matt Rudick is getting on base 1.91 times per game with the Mets.  They might not see eye to eye, longitudinally speaking, but they might be Mets assets.

IAM TONGI: Daniel Vogelbach may have said, "ya see, fat guys CAN win it all", after the obese, young Tongi overwhelmingly won this season's American Idol at age 18. Congrats to Iam.  Maybe you can sing with the Mets as they cruise down the Canyon of Heroes in November.